Blast from the Past
by spiffykay
Summary: A surprise comes to visit Seth and Summer one spring night in Providence... SS as always.


**Disclaimer: I do not own "The OC."**

**A/N: I just really, really wanted to do a one-shot with a 'blast from the past' character (hence the title… hahaha… I'm just so freaking creative). Hope you enjoy. :)**

**Oh, and let's pretend that the Ward brothers were not in season 4. Okay?**

**And yet another 'oh': I don't know if there is a Long Street in Providence. I just know I was at a Long Street in Cape Town, South Africa about a month ago and there were a lot of bars and clubs there. So let's just go with it, all right? Super.**

"So, what's on the agenda for date night tonight?" Seth asked as he held the door open for his girlfriend, who had just arrived at his dorm room for the night.

"I don't know," Summer answered a little seductively, letting Seth close the door before she let her jacket drape off her body onto the floor, revealing her silk pajama top. "Why don't you tell me, Cohen?"

Seth turned around, letting his jaw drop as Summer undid her jeans, exposing her matching boy-short panties. "Clearly you already have an agenda for date night."

"Are you complaining?" Summer walked towards him.

Seth shook his head vigorously. "Absolutely not." He reached his hands out to touch her skin, grabbing her close. "I'm _loving_ this agenda."

Summer smiled. "Jared gone?"

"Yeah," Seth replied, leaning down to kiss her neck, "he won't be back until later tonight."

Summer pushed Seth off instantly. "He what?"

"Oh, come on, Summer!" Seth whined. "You can't tease me like that!"

Summer ignored his comment. "Jared's coming back tonight? Seth! I told you two weeks ago that tonight was our date night!"

"We can still have date night," Seth tried to lean back in. "We just have to do it quick. Which – let's not lie – I'm pretty sure I can make happen."

"Cohen!" Summer pushed him off of her again, grabbing her discarded clothes off of the floor.

Seth reached for her arm, trying to stop her. "Summer, I'm sorry. But he lives here too, you know. I can't just kick him out."

"If you told him two weeks ago that we wanted the room to ourselves tonight I don't think he would have minded. Which begs the question, when _did_ you tell him I was coming over? Because I know it wasn't two weeks ago like I asked you to."

"Umm…" Seth searched for a lie that wouldn't piss off his girlfriend as much as the truth would, "like a week ago."

"A week ago?" Summer eyed him suspiciously. "And he still couldn't find a place to stay for one night?"

"Nope," Seth shook his head firmly, trying to keep up with his lie. "Not one. Thursday nights are jam-packed around here. Everyone already has plans and people sleeping over – like how you're sleeping over here."

"Seth!" Summer yelled, coming to her own conclusions. After years of being with Seth, she knew when he was lying. "You didn't tell him at all!"

Seth watched as Summer hastily put back on her clothes. "Well, not exactly! But I did tell him we were hanging out tonight and so he knew there was a possibility you'd be coming over here…"

Summer groaned, rolling her eyes over at her boyfriend. "You are unbelievable! How hard is it be, like, 'Oh, Jared, yeah so Summer's gonna come over next Thursday and we haven't really had a lot of alone time recently what with midterms and all so do you mind if we have the room to ourselves that night?'?!"

"It's hard!" Seth shouted back. "I don't do confrontation!"

"That's for damn sure," Summer quipped. "Whatever - forget it. I'm going back to my dorm."

Seth sprinted over to the door, stopping Summer. "Don't go."

Summer ignored him, trying to push him aside. "I'll call you in a few days."

"I don't want you to call me in a few days," Seth told her. "I want to talk to you here. Now."

"Well, that's something you should have thought of when you decided not to tell Jared about our date night. Now move," Summer punched his arm.

"No."

"No?" Summer stood aback. "You're not _allowing_ me to leave?"

Seth held firm. "No."

"Get away from the door, Seth," Summer seethed.

"Nope."

"Stop being an ass and move!"

Seth leaned down to Summer's face, his lips millimeters from hers. "Give me a kiss."

"What?" Summer asked, surprised.

"Give me a kiss and I'll move."

Summer watched him for a moment, wondering if he was serious. When he didn't move, Summer leaned in, closing the gap between their lips. Seth immediately intensified it, grabbing onto Summer's waist, pulling her closer. Summer willingly responded to Seth's intensity because – even if she was beyond angry at him right now – she and Seth hadn't had a moment alone in nearly two weeks and she missed her boyfriend.

Seth didn't let their lips part as he moved them closer to his bed, letting them fall unceremoniously on to it.

"I'm still angry, you know," Summer informed Seth in between kisses.

"I figured as much," Seth replied before letting his mouth go back to its place on Summer's skin.

Before either of them knew it, Summer's original clothes were back off and she was once again in her silk pajamas. Seth was now in his boxers and they couldn't seem to get enough of each other. Too much time had passed since they had had the time to do this and they were not minding taking the extra time to refamiliarize themselves with one another's bodies. Just as Seth was moving a hand up to help discard Summer's silk top, the door swung open and a loud voice rang through the silence.

"Cohen!"

Seth stopped immediately, trying to turn to the voice. "Who the hell -"

"And look at you, man!" the voice continued, "macking it out with -"

Seth moved off of Summer, giving way for the intruder to see her face.

"- Macking it out with _Summer Roberts_!"

Seth squinted his eyes, as Summer stopped trying to shield herself at the sound of her name. Both of them looked towards the door, noticing Seth's roommate, Jared, and a rather familiar old blast from the past…

"Oh my God," Summer murmured.

"_Luke_?" Seth questioned loudly.

"Dude, Cohen!" Luke walked into the dorm room, with Jared following behind. "And Summer! Wow! You guys are still together?!"

"Uh, yeah…" Seth's mouth stayed open as he nodded, trying to digest the scene playing out in front of him.

Jared spoke up, "I saw this guy down in the lobby and he was asking around for you. I thought he was part of the special night you were mumbling about earlier today."

"You ass!" Summer slapped Seth's arm. "You didn't tell him a week ago!"

"Like you believed me anyway," Seth responded, before turning back in the direction of Luke. "What are you doing here, man?"

"I moved to Boston!" Luke threw his hands up into the air, grinning widely.

Seth's eyebrows rose in question. "Oh, well that's great, Luke… but we're in Providence."

"Well, I moved to Boston. And then I decided to go to Providence College. But for extra cash I'm modeling for some of the art classes here and I heard some guy in one of the classes mention you. So then I asked around and found you here!"

"What happened to Portland?" Seth inquired.

Luke shrugged it off, sitting down on the end of Seth's bed, "Dad didn't like it. We ended up moving only a few months after you left."

Summer squirmed under the sheets, remembering that time in her life – when Seth had left her alone in Newport. Seth noticed Summer's uneasiness, placing a hand on her sheet-covered knee for comfort.

"Speaking of which," Luke stated, then lowering his voice as if to keep Summer from hearing what he was about to say, "how did you get Summer back in the sack?"

"Oh my God, you're disgusting!" Summer shouted, jumping out of Seth's bed, grabbing her clothes and going into the bathroom.

"What?" Luke asked, eyeing both Seth and Jared. "What did I say?"

Seth ignored Luke's comment but answered his previous question as he grabbed for his shirt and pants, putting them both on. "I proved to her that I loved her and that I wasn't gonna leave her again."

"And you guys have been together since?" Seth nodded his head. "Wow. That's, like…"

Seth noticed Luke trying to figure out the timeline in his head. "It's like five years."

"_Five years_!" Luke shouted, laughing. "You guys are gonna get married!"

"That's what I'm aiming for," Seth smiled, feeling a little uneasy in the situation.

"Man…" Luke spoke in wonderment, "That's…that's… powerful."

"Hmmhhh," Seth replied, not completely sure he knew what Luke was talking about, but feeling the need to speak anyway. Seth didn't have to think of anything else to say after that, thankfully, because Summer emerged from the bathroom, this time dressed in more decent clothes.

"So, Summer Roberts," Luke spoke to her, clearly looking her up and down, "you're looking pretty good these days."

Summer smiled falsely, finding her place back next to Seth in his bed. "Thanks."

"Cohen tells me you guys have been together for five years!" Luke enthusiastically told Summer.

Summer smiled again, leaning close to Seth. "Yeah, it's about five years."

"Dude, that's crazy. You guys sticking together and being out here on the East coast…" Luke trailed off, seemingly letting his mind wander to other things. "So, Ryan and Marissa still together like you guys?"

All three pairs of ears and eyes in the room perked up at this. Jared, having heard the story of Summer and Seth's decreased friend, Marissa, decided against staying in the dorm room. "You know, guys, I think I'm gonna take off. I'll probably just crash at Rob's apartment for the night," Jared told them as he picked up his jacket and keys, walking through the door. "Nice to meet you, Luke."

"You too, man," Luke smiled, then turning around to face Seth and Summer again once the door closed. "So yay or nay on the Ryan and Marissa thing?"

"Umm…" Seth contemplated his words, "Well… yeah… see we tried to find you a few years ago…"

Luke continued on, brightly and oblivious, "They're married aren't they? Dude, it's completely cool. I totally knew they mashed better than me and her ever did. Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I've been doing pretty good for myself."

"That's not it, Luke," Summer stepped in. "Marissa died a few years ago."

"She what?" Luke sat back looking confused. He must have heard Summer wrong.

"There was a car accident a few nights after graduation," Seth took over for Summer. "She didn't make it. We tried to call you but your number had changed. Guess now we know it's because you moved."

"Why didn't you tell my mom?" Luke asked, panicked. "She could have told me!"

"We tried. But she had moved by then too and had cut off all ties with everyone in Newport. After everything that happened with your family sophomore year, we knew she just couldn't handle the gossip and rumors anymore and that's why she left. She never gave anyone any contact information," Seth told him.

"I can't believe she's gone," Luke whispered, looking to Seth's comforter. "She didn't deserve to die."

"No," Summer spoke quietly, "no, she didn't."

Luke got up from the bed and circled the room for a few moments before walking over to Summer and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm so, _so_ sorry I wasn't there." Luke pulled back. "I loved her."

"Me too," Summer struggled to keep tears at bay. Seth made a motion to wrap his arm around Summer's torso, pulling her in closely for comfort.

Luke nodded, slowly taking everything in. "Well, I can't say I expected _that_ news," Luke tried to lighten the mood, and then slightly changed the topic. "How's Chino? What's he up to?"

Seth laughed lightly, trying to ignore the awkward tension that the last topic had brought in. He hadn't heard anyone call Ryan 'Chino' since high school. "He's good. He went to Berkeley. He took a year off after graduation though so he's only a junior."

"Chino's at Berkeley?" Luke gasped, and then began laughing. "I leave Newport and everybody changes!... What about you, Summer? You go to RISD, too?"

"Brown, actually," Summer smiled, recovering from earlier. She didn't want to dwell on the past tonight. "But I'm only a first semester sophomore."

"Ivy League?!" Luke exclaimed. "What the fuck?"

Summer feigned a smile while rolling her eyes. "Why thanks, Luke."

Luke resumed his laughter. "Well, Summer, you have to admit that sophomore year you weren't a genius."

"Wow. Thanks for that," Summer replied sarcastically.

Luke ignored the comment, realizing what Summer said earlier about only being a sophomore. "So why are you two years behind? I get why Chino took time off after high school – and I guess I'd get why you'd take a year off too, but why take off two? Didn't know what to do with your life or something?"

"Not exactly," Summer looked to Seth for a moment before continuing. "I went to Brown that first semester but then kicked out." Summer told him, and then off of Luke's questioning glance, "Just don't ask. Anyway, I wasn't there that second semester and was supposed to go back in the fall but then I was offered a two-year stint at GEORGE – an environmentalist organization. So I did that and put off Brown for a couple of years and then, last fall, I came back."

"And I'm actually only a second semester junior, instead of a second semester senior. I started at RISD late," Seth added in.

"Huh," Luke listened. "So I'm the most accomplished college student out of you two and Ryan?" Seth and Summer both looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, nodding. "Dude! See I told you! I leave Newport and everything changes! Who would have guessed all of this seven years ago?!"

"Definitely not me," Seth answered, pulling Summer in to him and leaving a quick kiss on her lips.

Summer smiled, leaning her head on Seth's shoulders. "Me neither."

"Aww," Luke sat back on Seth's roommate's bed, "aren't you two just so sickeningly in love? Another thing we all wouldn't have predicted seven years ago… Well," Luke laughed, pointing at Seth, "except for maybe you in your dreams."

"Oh, ha ha. Funny," Seth replied sardonically.

Summer laughed with Luke. "It's true, Cohen."

"You're turning on me too?" Seth looked at his girlfriend incredulously. "Thanks for the support."

"Anytime," Summer kissed his cheek.

"So," Luke interrupted Seth and Summer's small moment, "what's there to do around here on a Thursday night? Because if there isn't anything, I know of some good parties back at Providence we can go to."

"We?" Seth questioned.

"Well, yeah!" Luke replied, getting up from Jared's bed. "I didn't just come seek you out only to hang out in the dorms playing video games! I originally had the idea of finding you and trying to hook you up with some hotties at Providence like I tried to do in Portland, but obviously that plan's a no-go."

Summer shook her head, keeping grip on Seth's arm as if to keep him from going with Luke. "No, that is _definitely_ a no-go."

"Oh, calm down, Roberts," Luke threw his arms in the air. "It's not like he would have gone if you weren't in the picture anyway."

"Hey!" Seth reentered the conversation. "How do you know I wouldn't have gone? I'm a fan of the party scene."

"You would have gone, Seth?" Summer seethed. "Like you did while you left me to go hang out with Luke for a few months in Portland?"

"No," Seth tried to cover up for his obvious mistake. "No, no, no."

"Roberts, you're a little overprotective these days, aren't you?" Luke laughed. "Besides, Cohen never went with me to parties in Portland. He'd stay in and draw comics."

"Of you," Seth threw in to Summer, trying to get back in her good graces again. "I was always drawing pictures of you. That's how the comic book was born."

"Ah, yes, yet another wonderful memory of high school," Summer replied sarcastically, but Luke seemed intrigued.

"You made a comic book?"

Seth winced as Summer's grip tightened around his arm. "Well, it was actually a graphic novel…" Summer's grip intensified. "You know what? It's not important – what were your plans again, Luke?"

Luke clapped his hands together. "Let's go find a bar on Long Street and get _trashed_!"

Seth glanced at Summer and Summer did the same. "Um…" Seth began, "actually, we aren't really in to that type of thing anymore. And by we, I mean Summer."

"Cohen!" Summer pulled away, punching him in the arm.

"It's true!" Seth defended himself. "You never saw me downing alcohol night after night in high school."

Luke stared at them. "Well… what else is there to do here? Cause that's all me and my brothers do."

Seth and Summer stared at him. "Aren't your brothers, like, fourteen?" Summer asked.

"My frat brothers," Luke answered.

"You know, I'm not surprised you're in a fraternity," Seth commented.

Luke ignored him. "Let's just hit up Long Street, okay? I told some of them I'd be there later. There's this one club with real hotties from Brown…" Luke spoke, but then stopped and chuckled to himself. "Cohen, you already got one of those! The boys of Sigma Pi will worship you!"

Seth raised his eyebrows in interest. "That's not something I'm familiar with."

"Great!" Luke walked towards the door. "Let's get going! I think I parked in an illegal spot anyway so I should probably get on that."

"Probably," Seth nodded his head, following Luke, but Summer pulled at his arm. "What?"

Summer rolled her eyes at him. "Date night, Seth."

Seth pointed at her. "But you canceled it, like, fifteen minutes ago."

Summer punched him in the stomach. "You're such an ass."

"What?" Seth whined, gripping his abdomen. "How was I supposed to know it was back on?"

"When I was back in my new silk outfit and we were making out on your bed!" Summer yelled at him. "Seriously, are you really that oblivious?"

Seth nodded his head rapidly. "Yes. Very, very oblivious. A giant elephant could stomp past me right now and I wouldn't even blink an eye." Summer rolled her eyes again. "Summer, I'm sorry. And you know how much I was looking forward to date night too, but we kind of can't now. I mean, unless Luke joined us," Seth paused, going over what he just said in his mind. "Wow, did I just say that?"

Summer smiled up at him, grabbing his face in her hands. "Reschedule? For tomorrow night?"

Seth grinned down at her, pulling her closer. "Well, that's kind of short notice for Jared but I'm sure he can make himself scarce."

"I'm sure," Summer laughed back him, leaning up to kiss his lips. Just as they were about to touch, Luke came back into the doorway.

"Dude, you two need a room," Luke informed them.

"Huh," Seth looked around the dorm room, still gripping onto Summer's arms, "you know, I think that's actually what the English dictionary calls the place we're standing in right now. Go figure!"

"Oh, shut up, Cohen," Luke scrunched up his face. "Just stop sucking face already so we can go out."

"'Sucking face,' Cohen," Summer smiled up at her boyfriend. "We need to stop 'sucking face.'"

Seth leaned down, kissing Summer's nose softly. "I love you." Seth let go of Summer's body, reaching down to take her hand in his and lead her out of the dorm so they could follow Luke. But Summer stopped suddenly, causing Seth to turn towards her once again. "What's up this time?"

"I don't think I'm gonna go out," Summer told him.

"What? Why not?" Seth inquired. "Because I can't handle Luke on my own. It may have been seven years but something tells me he's still the same Luke we knew in high school and that does not bode well for me."

Summer smiled up at him. "I'm not dressed to go bar hopping. And I look terrible."

"You look beautiful," Seth told her honestly.

"You're required to say that."

"Well, yes, but I also happen to think it's true."

Luke bounded back up the steps, glaring at both Seth and Summer. "If I have to come back up these stairs one more time to get you two moving, I'm gonna punch someone."

"How very Newport Beach of you," Seth commented wryly. Then off of Luke's glare, added in, "we're coming. But Summer's gonna have to stop by her dorm and change."

"What?" Luke complained. "Why? Summer, you look fine. Stop being a girl."

"I _am_ a girl, Luke," Summer gaped at him. "But it's okay, you two just go ahead now. I'll call later when I'm about to head out and find out where you both are."

"Summer…" Seth groaned, but Luke grabbed Seth's shoulders leading him off in the opposite direction of where Summer was standing.

"You heard the woman," Luke slapped Seth's back and he winced. "We'll just get the party going and by the time she gets there it will be going at full force."

Seth barely got a chance to wave goodbye to his girlfriend before the view of the staircase was all he could see.

All Summer heard was the word "stone" when she finally called Seth from her car an hour later and the only things she had heard about a "stone" on Long Street was this really trashy bar/club that you were guaranteed to get hit on – whether you were a guy or a girl – and find an immediate hook up, no matter who you were.

"Great," Summer stated as she pulled into a parking spot on the street, seeing Luke through the windows, banging his head in midair. "Just the type of fun I was hoping to have tonight."

Summer wandered into "Stone" glancing around for her boyfriend. After a few moments of looking for him, she decided to just go towards Luke, hoping he'd be sober enough to know where Seth was.

"Luke!" Summer shouted as she pushed her way through the crowds. "Luke!!"

Luke turned his head around, getting a glimpse at Summer and waving her over. "Summer Roberts!" Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "This is my Sigma Pi brother Greg and this is my other brother Hunter. Greg, Hunter, this is Summer Roberts."

"Hott," the Greg character nodded, looking Summer up and down. "You sealed the deal tonight, my friend!" Greg held his hand up to slap Luke's and Luke obliged.

"Ew!" Summer shrieked. "No, no, no, no, no. We are _not_ hooking up."

"Great," the other guy, Hunter, said, moving towards Summer as she pushed herself away from Luke. "You're one fine piece of ass that I'd like to tap." Summer didn't have room to pull away and suddenly Hunter grasped her tightly in his arms, leaning down to her ear. "You wanna get out of here?"

"No!" Summer yelled, just as she heard another booming voice.

"What the hell?"

"Cohen!" Both Luke and Greg shouted, slapping him on the back instantaneously. "Where've you been? It's been hours!"

"It's been five minutes," Seth told Luke matter-of-factly, then staring over at Summer and Hunter. "What the fuck is going on?"

Hunter looked up at Cohen, releasing his grip on Summer and giving Seth a friendly slap on the back. "Dude! Where's your hottie?"

"Right there," Seth pointed over at Summer.

Hunter followed Seth's finger and began shaking his head. "No, no, this one's mine. Just found her. – I mean, the one you were getting cozy with earlier? Where's she at?"

"The one you were getting _cozy_ with earlier?" Summer folded her arms across her chest angrily.

"Oh, right," Seth glared over at his girlfriend. "Cause I didn't just find you in a compromising position with this guy," Seth put a hand on Hunter's back.

Summer shooed her hand up in the air in disregard. "Misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding, my ass, Summer," Seth spat, clearly already a little intoxicated.

"Oh, Seth, come on," Summer rolled her eyes. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Two drinks," Seth replied, but off a laugh from Luke and his frat brothers, he corrected himself. "Four. And a shot. Or two. Of SoCo."

"SoCo? Seth, you know how that goes straight to your head!"

"And I've had beer."

"Awesome," Summer gave him the thumbs up, sarcastically. "Just how I wanted to spend the night with my boyfriend. Cleaning up his puke."

Just then, as Seth was about to reply, another girl's voice entered the conversation and threw her arms over Seth's shoulders. "Hey!"

Seth tried to get the unknown girl's hands off from around his neck as Summer stared the girl down furiously. "Is this the _cozier_?" Summer gnarled.

"Who are you?" the girl noticed Summer. Seth managed to get the girl off of him and he stood in between them.

"Hey, now, let's not starting anything, okay Summer?" Seth tried.

Summer ignored him. "I'm Summer," she pushed Seth aside, glaring at the girl. "I'm Seth's girlfriend. So if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate if you kept your hands off of him."

"Whoooeee!" Luke screeched. "I just love when Summer gets bitchy! One of my favorite pastimes!"

"Ew," the girl commented, throwing Summer a disgusted once-over before turning to look at Seth, "she's not even that pretty."

Before anyone knew what was happening – or before anyone could stop it – Summer launched herself at the still unknown girl's body, toppling her to the ground. Greg and Hunter watched as the girls wrestled on the floor, and others looked on as well. Luke began laughing, pointing down at them as Seth tried to reach down and pull Summer off of the other girl.

"Summer!" Seth yelled. "What the hell is wrong with you? Get up!" Summer wouldn't budge and Seth knew he wouldn't be able to get Summer off of the girl himself so he looked to Luke. "Luke! A little help here!"

"This is funny ass shit, Cohen!" Luke laughed. "Don't ruin it!"

"She's gonna get hurt, Luke!"

"Nah," Luke shrugged him off. "By the looks of things, it's gonna be the other girl who gets hurt. Summer's got a nice sucker punch on her."

"Luke!"

"All right, all right," Luke leaned down, peeling Summer off of the other girl. "Showtime's over, Summer."

"You are such a bitch!" Summer screamed. "Stay away from my boyfriend!" The girl stood up from the ground, trying to fix her appearance, not even replying back to Summer but rather giving her her strongest glare. She soon turned around without a word and Summer shouted after her, "Oh! And I am too pretty! I'm more prettier than your ugly slut face!"

"Summer!" Seth covered his hand over her mouth, taking her out of Luke's hands. "Snap out of the rage blackout, will you?"

Summer irately pushed Seth's hand away from her mouth. "Don't tell me what to do, Cohen! You are so not in that position right now, Cheater!"

This got Seth angry. And his inebriated state didn't help matters either. "Excuse me? _Cheater_? Are you implying that I _cheated_ on you during the five billion hours it took you to get ready to come here?"

Summer ignored his insult and continued as she stayed in rage blackout mode. "Yes, I am, Seth! I know what this place is known for. Easy, no strings attached hook ups! You somehow thought you could be the big macho man on campus having Luke and his frat brothers with you while you hooked up with another girl while I wasn't here! You always wanted that ridiculous high school water polo feeling for once in your life."

"Well, aren't you Miss Trusting?" Seth spat. "What happened to five years of commitment and trust and love?"

"That girl is what happened!"

"Might I remind you that you were all over Hunter when I came over here?"

"My God!" Summer yelled. "Like I would _try_ and ruin our relationship with some guy named Hunter." Thankfully by now, Luke and his fraternity brothers had wandered off, clearly not interested in the lover's quarrel going on between Seth and Summer.

"Like I would try and ruin our relationship with some girl named Becca!" Seth retaliated.

"_Becca_?" Summer's voice grew fierce. "You know her name?"

Seth rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. You knew Hunter's name!"

"That's because he's friends with Luke!"

"You are such a hypocrite, you know that?" Seth shouted at her, turning away from her. "I'm going to get another drink."

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Seth Cohen!" Summer yelled to Seth's already retreating back. "Cohen!" Summer marched up the bar, following Seth who by now had situated himself next to Luke, ordering a rum and coke. "Seth!"

"What now?" Seth turned to her with a look of aggravation.

Summer, who by now was in full rage blackout mode, lifted her right hand and swiftly slapped her boyfriend's cheek. "You're such a dick and I'm _so_ over this." She then made a motion towards the exit, pushing aside all people that were in her way.

"Fuck," Seth swore, rubbing his throbbing cheek.

Luke, who witnessed the entire scene, looked on horrified. "And you want to marry her? Dude, Cohen, I know she's hott but man, she's _crazy_."

"I know that," Seth told him, getting up from the bar. "That's why I love her."

Luke followed his motion, walking with him towards the exit. "Then you're crazy too. And I just have to see how all this craziness is gonna play out so I'm coming with you."

Both Luke and Seth finally made their way out of the over-crowded bar and saw Summer walking across the street towards her car. Seth brought his hands up to his face, making a microphone motion around his mouth. "Summer!" Summer stopped for a second, glancing back at Seth and Luke, but quickly continued on to her car. "I love her but she's such a bitch sometimes." Luke snorted in agreement at Seth's statement as they both ran up to her to stop her from getting in the car.

Seth made his way towards Summer, pushing himself against the driver's side door not allowing Summer to get through. "Move it, Cohen. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

"No."

Summer crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. "You sure are on a roll tonight with pissing me off. Must be a new record."

"Give me a kiss and I'll move."

"Right," Summer grunted. "Just because that worked in your favor earlier tonight doesn't mean it's going to now. Move away from my car."

"Only if you give me a kiss."

"You are so ridiculous!" Summer threw her hands up in the air. "I really hate you right now!"

This time it was Luke's turn to grunt. "Please. You're in love with him."

Summer glanced angrily at Luke. "Luke, stay out of it."

"You're in love with him and you love all of this attention you get from him. You're not even pissed with him right now; you're happy because he's only focusing on you and not drinking in the bar with me and my buddies," Luke told her.

"I said stay out of it," Summer told him through clenched teeth.

"Yeah," Seth intervened. "You better stay out of it. She looks like she's about to go back into rage blackout mode and I can tell you it's not pretty when it's aimed at you."

"Fine," Luke threw his hands up in defeat. "I'll stay right here and let you two fight it out until someone ends up with a black eye or a broken rib. And with the scene from 'Fight Club' we just witnessed back there, I'm betting it's gonna be you, Cohen."

Seth merely frowned at him and then turned towards his girlfriend, puckering his lips for a kiss. "Now, where were we?"

"You want another red cheek, Cohen?" Summer asked.

"Not particularly."

"Then move!"

"Not a chance."

"I'll kick your ass."

Seth snickered. "I have no doubt that you will."

"If you don't move right now, we're over."

"I don't believe you."

"Fine," Summer said, and then began stomping off in the other direction. "Have fun with your hand."

Seth looked at Luke who shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, Seth wasn't so strong anymore. "Summer!" Seth bellowed as he ran after her. "I'm sorry, okay? Let's talk about this!"

"Well, Goddamn you two are annoying!" Luke roared over Seth, making both Seth and Summer stop in their tracks in shock. "You guys are so fucked up!" Luke walked over to them still shouting. "Summer, you need to let Cohen be the man in your relationship for once and Cohen, you need to grow some balls."

"I-I … have… balls," Seth stuttered, uneasy in the situation Luke had just put him in.

"Oh, really?" Luke raised his eyebrows. "Is that why you were telling me all about that ring that is still sitting in the glove compartment of your car?"

"Hey!" Seth pointed at him. "I told you all of that in confidence!"

"What ring?" Summer questioned, letting her anger fall away as questions ran through her mind at a rapid pace.

Luke gawked at Summer in response. "Your _engagement_ ring."

"Fucking Christ, Luke!" Seth screeched.

Summer turned her attention to Seth. "My _engagement_ ring…? Seth…?"

"Shit," Seth replied, bringing his hands to cover his face.

Luke offered up the information Summer was looking for. "Cohen here decided to tell me all about his biggest dilemma on the way to the bar tonight. Apparently he bought you a ring, like, last summer or something. He was gonna propose to you when you got back from your HARRY, or ROBERT, or whatever it was called, thing."

"GEORGE," Summer told his calmly, still keeping her gaze on Seth as Luke spoke.

"Right, GEORGE," Luke continued. "But then he freaked out. It was too early, you still had three years of college left, your dad wouldn't approve… whatever, there were a lot of other excuses he used."

"Justifications," Seth mumbled through his hands.

"Bullshit," Luke said. "Excuses. Plain, old, useless excuses that you used every time you said you were getting close to asking her."

"There were other times?" Summer softly asked Seth.

Seth let his hands fall down from his face and made eye contact with Summer. "Thanksgiving, Chrismukkah, New Year's, Valentine's Day… I don't know – it didn't seem right."

"Well," Luke slapped his back, "now seems like the perfect time. I'm gonna go back into the bar. You two are mood busters – I need another drink."

Seth shifted his attention away from Luke and back to Summer, as she did the same. "You want to propose to me? You want to marry me?"

Seth grunted and let a smile play on his lips. "What kind of question is that? I've wanted to marry you since I was ten."

"Yeah, but… you wanted to propose…?" Summer asked, but mainly spoke the questions out loud to herself. "Oh my God! _That's_ why you locked your glove compartment! It's not jammed! You lied!"

Seth rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously picking _another_ argument after I just proposed marriage to you?"

"Nuhuh," Summer pointed her finger at him. "You didn't propose anything. Luke just told me about it."

"I thought it was implied."

"I am not getting engaged to my boyfriend by _Luke Ward_," Summer stated disgustedly.

Seth's eyes rose as his face brightened. "Does that mean it's a yes?"

"A yes to what, Cohen?" Summer tried to be stern, but couldn't avoid the smile that was creeping onto her face. "Because I don't think I've been asked to marry anyone tonight."

Seth saw her smile and let his grin grow wider as he let one leg kneel down on the street and cupped Summer's hands in his. "Summer Roberts, I love you with everything in me. And I've dreamed of this moment since I was ten – albeit a little differently, like not in a dark street or with Luke Ward having any involvement. And I am sorry Luke had to be the one to bring this about – I've just been so scared. Petrified, actually. I thought you would say no. And I know it's stupid because we've been dating for five years and you wouldn't still be with me if you didn't love me but I always seem to think back to that time when you weren't – physically – in my life. When I just watched you from afar, wishing you'd give me a chance. Sometimes – I don't know, this is stupid – but sometimes, when I see you sleeping next to me, I think you're all of a sudden just gonna shoot up and laugh at me, telling me I was an idiot for thinking you'd ever love me. And every time I was gonna propose, those thoughts would scare the shit out of me and I just wouldn't do it. I didn't want to ruin my favorite holidays by having a marriage proposal rejected… Well, actually Valentine's Day isn't one of my favorite holidays but by that point I was just scared shitless. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is – I love you. I always have. And there are so many other cheesy, cliché things I could add to that but it'll all be redundant. Because all that matters is that I love you and that I want to marry you and I hope you love me enough to want to marry me too."

Summer had tears in her eyes as she smirked down at Seth. "I still didn't hear a question."

Seth stood up, rolling his eyes in the process and cupping Summer's face in his hands, whispering. "Summer Roberts, will you marry me?"

"Yes, Cohen," Summer let the tears roll down her cheeks as she replied just as softly as he had asked her. "Yes, I'll marry you."

Seth immediately let her face go, picking her up in his arms instead and twirling her around in the Providence night air, as he kissed her face feverishly in gratitude.

"Hey, Cohen?" Summer whispered into the darkness as she and Seth lay quietly on Seth's bed.

"Yeah?"

Summer smiled, looking down at her new ring that sparkled in the moonlight. "I'm really glad Luke came to visit tonight."

"Me too, Summer," Seth pulled her closer to his chest. "Me too."

"Want to go out again with him tomorrow?"

Seth let silence fill the air, not sure whether Summer was joking or not. Then he heard giggling and he too started laughing himself until they were both laughing together.

"Is that a no?" Summer questioned, innocently.

"That's a definite _hell_ no," Seth told her. "I think we have enough Luke stories to last a lifetime."

"Yeah…" Summer agreed. "But I like having Luke around again. It feels familiar. …Maybe we'll make it a once every other week type of thing. And we'll go out to dinner. Not a bar. Or a club. Or anywhere that involves lots of alcohol."

"I think that's a good plan," Seth replied. "Who knows, maybe Luke will become one of my greatest pals and even beat out Ryan for best man." Summer burst out laughing at this, as did Seth and it took a few moments before they could calm down. The thought of it was just too hilarious – Luke Ward, best man at Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts' wedding? Crazy. "Yeah, let's stick with Ryan."

"We owe Luke a lot."

"That we do."

Silence ensued and Summer quietly whispered into the darkness. "We're _engaged_."

"Yeah…" Seth smiled, without realizing Summer couldn't see his face, "I owe Luke _big time_."

Summer giggled as Seth turned their bodies over in the messy sheets, burying his face deep into her neck mumbling words of love and adoration well into the night.

**A/N: I'm looking for ideas for SS one-shots. If anyone has something they'd like to see, leave it in a review and I might just write it. :) Actually, I'm almost one hundred percent positive I'll do it because I really want to write something and so far nothing is coming to me. So if you want to see more SS writing from me, send me an idea!!**

**And P.S. – To the person(s) who asked about my other short story "Into the New Year" --- I have no clue what to write about and that's why that one hasn't been finished. So if you have an idea for that one, I'd like to hear it too.**


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